Deer are tough animals

[devon deer]

I noticed this deer before Christmas but I couldn't get a shot on it before it disappeared into the undergrowth.
I was out yesterday afternoon and saw 5 roe deer bedded in the woods, I didn't actually realise it was the deer I had seen previously, it was lying with it's ass facing me and my position was compromised by the other deer and branches obscuring my view.
I waited for ages but it wouldn't move, so I snapped a twig and it moved slightly to enable a neck shot.
I guess it lost the leg in wire, but imagine the agony it must have been in during that time until I shot it.
Having said that it was in perfect body condition, although it wasn't pregnant.

 

[pabearhunter]

They are amazing how much damage to there bodies they can take and still survive.

 

[thusby]

I've only seen it a couple times but they can survive some pretty brutal injuries. Glad you could take that one out.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

We had a doe around here for a couple years missing a hind leg. Usually has twins. Crazy how they can overcome so much. Good job.

 

[KipCarson]

It makes you realize just how soft us humans are! I have seen quite a few deer over the years with severe injuries That left me scratching my head how they could survive. We had a buck on our property for several years that was missing the entire front left leg below the body. He was aptly named “Tripod”

 

[Steiny]

You can blow a broadhead thru both lungs and they still can run 400 yards sometimes.
I wouldn't make it ten feet.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

Humans are so fragile compared to animals. Imagine taking a bullet through both lungs or even the heart and still running off.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

I think I'd make a bleat call and cry to make the hunter feel bad rather than try and impress with my toughness.

 

[tikkaman]

Very tough ,they are on the lookout 24/7 .

 

[Muley_Stalker]

I just noticed your location. What's it like deer hunting in the UK? Do you have to pay to use the land like fishing?

 

[Ben Long]

i have a whitetail doe like that in my neighborhood. Got hit by a car and lost the rear passenger-side hoof just below the ankle like that. Damn hoof was hanging by the tendon like a Christmas ornament until it finally rotted off. She got by fine and healed up and has fawns. Another buck I watched got hit as a 2 year old and lived 10 years, limping from one bird feeder to another. One foreleg shriveled up and looking like he was about to die every step. The will to live is something to see.

 

[Jerky]

I think about how tough some animals are whenever there's a big snowstorm or when the temperatures really drop.

I can't imagine the life of a mountain goat that winters at 11,000 feet.

Or how a grouse migrates in reverse and goes higher for the winter.

 

[devon deer]

I just noticed your location. What's it like deer hunting in the UK? Do you have to pay to use the land like fishing?

We have great deer hunting with 6 species to hunt, although where I live I only have access to 3, red, fallow and roe deer.
I have never paid for access, a lot has come through word of mouth, one farmer talks to another and recommends me.
Of course I always give them as much venison as they like, until they get fed up with it that is!
I have one land owner who is around 90 years old, she is a vegetarian, but she never says no to Salmon or trout that I drop by, I also give her a bottle of Scottish Single Malt Whiskey every year, this year I said 'don't drink it all at once' she was quick to retort, 'don't tell me what to do!'
Cheers
Richard

 

[Dave N]

ElkStalker, there are several threads here about hunting over there. Richard regularly posts pictures and stories of his conquests, and myself and others have been there hunting with him and created our storyline threads with all of the details. It's sort of the same but yet completely different at the same time. Great memories for sure!

 

[Muley_Stalker]

I must have missed them. As a fly fisherman, I am up on what fishing is like there.

 

[Dave N]

Here's a link to my story.

My Redneck European Adventure

Well, thanks to Devon Deer's offer to host a hunter in the U.K. the wife and I threw my name into his "hat" and luckily I got picked. I figured it would be a chance to go somewhere that we would have never thought about in normal circumstances, plus FINALLY allow me a chance to go hunting on a...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[D4570]

Devon deer
Good to see you, I'm not here a lot your name caught my eye. I think I remember you from a different site.
It has been shut down for a long time, but still has many of Montanas webcams I use a lot.
Anyway back to your post. I have seen deer running In the middle of winter with an arrow still stuck through there neck of imbedder in their shoulder bone. My daughter had a deer in her yard that was missing her back leg from the knee down. She has a 6-foot tall solid woof fence. It was fat and happy and could clear the fence. Unforchanetly I have seen MANY deer and elk hanging from there rear legs on tight barbed wire fences till they die of thirst. Most animals are in humin turms are extremely resilient. I shot a male coyote once, he was charging into another mail challenge call to kick but.
I saw he had a slight limp.
When we skinned him we saw he must have been hit by a truck, one front paw was missing, the other front leg was broken and the bone was sticking through the skin but was healed off. his rear leg on one side was missing from his knee down. the other leg was broken and could easily be moved sideways under the muscle. AND his pelvis was broken in half. Noe this guy was covered in fight scares and was looking for a fight.
It looked in very good winter condition, all covered in fat as well as any of the others we shot that day.

 

[devon deer]

Yes that's me, it's a shame that site closed down, only a few of us on there but for the most part was really friendly, like you I still have a look at the web cams.

The same regarding wire, often the pig netting fence is completed on top with 2 strands of barbed wire, the deer kicks out as it jumps and it gets caught, very sad.

That is a crazy story regarding the coyote!

Didn't you start to build a jet boat?
Did you finish it?

Cheers

Richard

 

[Mitchellmountain]

I shot a buck a few years ago who must have been hit by a car. Shot him running in the timber and didn’t know he was a half rack till I walked up to him dead. His entire right side was busted off except 1.5 inch of the base. The skull had broken along with it and was cracked open almost like a set of tree roots that had tipped over in the ground. He was doging a doe like nothing was wrong when I shot him. It was infected but didn’t look too serious.

 

[Dave N]

Shot a buck years ago and when I walked up to it I thought it only had one antler. Picked the head up out of the leaves and the other side had broken at the skull and rotated down, healing in the process. I'll take a picture of the skull when I get home and post it.

That was the first deer I killed with our youngest daughter along. It ran about 5 feet behind her after the shot. I was in a tree stand and she was sitting on a stool below me. She was tickled!